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{{Infobox military person
|name= Eric Norman Goddard
|image=
|caption=
|rank=[[Lieutenant-general (United Kingdom)|Lieutenant General]]
|branch={{army|British India}} {{army|IND}}
|commands=[[4th Battalion, 15th Punjab Regiment]] [[Landi Kotal Brigade]] [[Southern Command (India)|Southern Command, India]]
|unit=[[12th Frontier Force Rifles]]
|battles=[[World War I]] [[World War II]]
|awards= [[Companion of the Order of the Bath]] [[Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire]] [[Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] [[Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order]] [[Military Cross]]
|family=
|nickname=
|allegiance={{flag|United Kingdom}}
|birth_date=6 July 1897
|death_date=11 June 1992 (aged 94)
|birth_place=[[London Borough of Lambeth|Lambeth]], [[London]], England
|death_place=[[Tunbridge Wells]], [[Kent]], England
|placeofburial=
|serviceyears=1915−1948
|laterwork= [[Allied Control Council|Control Commission for Germany]], 1949 to 1953 [[Civil Defence Corps|Director of Civil Defence]] for North-Western Region of England, 1955 to 1963
}}
[[Lieutenant-General]] '''Eric Norman Goddard''' [[Order of the Bath|CB]] [[Order of the Indian Empire|CIE]] [[Order of the British Empire|CBE]] [[Royal Victorian Order|LVO]] [[Military Cross|MC]] and bar (6 July 1897 – 11 June 1992) was a regular soldier of the [[British Indian Army|Indian Army]] who rose to the position of General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, [[Southern Command (India)|Southern Command, India]].

==Early life==
The third son of Arthur Goddard, a [[London]] [[Chartered accountant]], by his marriage to Isabel Catherine Roberts, he was born in London, educated at [[Dulwich College]], then attended Quetta Cadet College in India and was commissioned into the Unattached List for the Indian Army 15 November 1915 and was admitted to the Indian Army 18 November 1915 and was posted to the 107th Pioneers.<ref name=who>'Goddard, Lt-Gen. Eric Norman' in ''[[Who's Who (UK)|Who's Who 1991]]'' (London: A. & C. Black)</ref><ref name="whoeuro">'GODDARD Eric Norman. Lieutenant-général d'armée retraité' in ''Who's who in Europe: dictionnaire biographique des personnalités européennes contemporaines : 1980-1981'' (International Publications Service, 1980), p. 1005: "GODDARD Eric Norman. Lieutenant-général d'armée retraité. Né à Londres, le 6 July 1887. F. de Goddard, expert-comptable, et d'Isabel Catherine Roberts. M. : le 25 May 1939, à Maymyo (Birmanie), avec Elizabeth Lynch Prioleau..."</ref><ref>London Gazette 22 February 1916 p1960 & 1961</ref><ref>January 1919 Indian Army List</ref>

==Military career==
From October 1916 he was attached to the 128th Pioneers, with whom Goddard saw active service in [[Mesopotamia]], [[Persia]] and [[Kurdistan]] between 1916 and 1919, being twice [[mentioned in despatches]], made an Officer of the [[Order of the British Empire]] and receiving the [[Military Cross]].<ref>OBE - London Gazette 3 June 1919</ref><ref>MC - London Gazette 13 January 1920</ref>

He was a General Staff Officer 3 grade at [[India Command|Army Headquarters India]], from 1923 to 1925. In March 1929 he joined the 3rd Battalion, [[12th Frontier Force Regiment]].<ref>Indian Army List July 1929</ref> He passed the [[Pakistan Command and Staff College|Staff College, Quetta]], in 1928–29, where his fellow students were [[John Crocker]], [[Colin Gubbins]], [[Douglas Gracey]], [[Lionel Howard Cox|Lionel Cox]], [[Harold Victor Lewis|Harold Lewis]] and [[Henry Lowrie Davies|Henry Davies]], all future [[General officer|generals]]. After this he was posted as brigade major to the [[Nowshera Brigade]] from 1932 to 1934, seeing active service in the Chitral relief operation of 1932 (when he was again mentioned in despatches and gained a bar to his MC) and in the Mohmand operations of 1933 (again mentioned in despatches). He was promoted brevet major in 1933 and from April 1934 to April 1936 was a general staff officer grade 2 in Eastern Command.<ref name="ReferenceA">January 1941 Indian Army List supplement</ref> Appointed officer in command the King's Indian Orderly Officers, 1936, when he was appointed a Member of the [[Royal Victorian Order]] (4th class) and in December became commandant of the 4th Battalion, [[15th Punjab Regiment]].

In April 1939 he was promoted brevet colonel and colonel in command of administration, [[Myanmar Army#Post Independence era|Burma Army]], then in November 1940 brigade commander of the [[Landi Kotal Brigade]].<ref name="ReferenceA"/> In December 1941 Goddard was promoted [[major-general]] in command of administration, Army in Burma, and saw service in [[Burma]] and on the Eastern front from then until December 1944. In 1943–1944 he was major-general in command of administration to the 11th Army Group and to Allied Land Forces in South East Asia, when he was mentioned in despatches a further four times and appointed CIE and CBE. In 1944 he was promoted a substantive major-general.<ref name=who/>

Following the end of the Second World War, Goddard was posted as general officer commanding-in-chief of [[Southern Command (India)|Southern Command, India]], serving from 1947, when he was promoted an acting lieutenant-general, until his retirement with the honorary rank of lieutenant-general in November 1948.<ref name=who/> In that role, he was responsible for the Goddard Plan for [[Operation Polo]], the armed invasion by the [[Dominion of India|Union of India]] of the [[princely state]] of [[Hyderabad State|Hyderabad]], put into effect in September 1948 by Major-General [[Joyanto Nath Chaudhuri]].<ref>L. N. Subramanian, '[http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/MONITOR/ISSUE2-3/lns.html Operation Polo: The Liberation of Hyderabad] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051127054521/http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/MONITOR/ISSUE2-3/lns.html |date=27 November 2005 }}' in ''Monitor'', vol. 2 (3) (November–December 1999), online at bharat-rakshak.com, Retrieved 26 March 2012</ref>

On his retirement from the Indian Army and the Southern Command in 1948, Goddard was succeeded by [[Maharaj]] [[Shri]] [[Rajendrasinhji Jadeja]], the first Indian officer to take on the post.<ref>Rajendra Prasad, ''The Asif Jahs of Hyderabad: their rise and decline'' (1984), p. 380: "Lieutenant-General Maharaj Shri Rajendrasinhji, DSO, had replaced Lieutenant-General Eric Goddard."</ref>

==Later career==
Goddard returned to Europe from India and next took on a special appointment to the [[Allied Control Council|Control Commission for Germany]], serving from 1949 to 1953. He was director of [[Civil Defence Corps|Civil Defence]] for the North-Western Region of England, based in [[Manchester]], from 1955 to 1963.<ref name=who/> At his death, he was the last living former army commander of the British Indian Army.

==Private life==
On 25 May 1939 at [[Maymyo]], [[Burma]], Goddard married Elizabeth Lynch Prioleau Hamilton, daughter of [[Major]] Lynch Hamilton by his marriage to Frances Prioleau, and they had one son. At the time of his death in 1992 his address was given in ''[[Who's Who (UK)|Who's Who]]'' as Kent House, Camden Park, [[Tunbridge Wells]], [[Kent]].<ref name=who/><ref name=whoeuro/> He was also President, East Lancashire Branch, [[British Red Cross]], 1964–1966<ref name=who/>

==Publications==
*Eric Goddard, 'The Indian Army – company and Raj', in ''Asian Affairs'', vol. 7, issue 3 (1976), pp. 263–276<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1080/03068377608729813 | volume=7 | title=The Indian army ‐ company and Raj | year=1976 | journal=Asian Affairs | pages=263–276 | last1 = Goddard | first1 = Eric| issue=3 }}</ref>

==Honours==
*[[Officer of the Order of the British Empire]], 1919<ref name=who/>
*[[Military Cross]], January 1920
*[[Member of the Royal Victorian Order]], 4th Class (MVO) 1936<ref name=who/> - regraded as Lieutenant (LVO) in 1984
*[[Commander of the Order of the British Empire]], 1942<ref name=who/>
*[[Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire]], 1944<ref name=who/>
*[[Companion of the Bath]], 1947<ref name=who/>

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Bibliography==
*{{cite book| first=Nick| last=Smart| title=Biographical Dictionary of British Generals of the Second World War| isbn=1844150496| year=2005| location=Barnesley| publisher=Pen & Sword}}

==External links==
*[https://generals.dk/general/Goddard/Eric_Norman/Great_Britain.html Generals of World War II]
*[http://www.unithistories.com/officers/IndianArmy_officers_G01.html#Goddard_EN Indian Army Officers 1939-1945]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goddard, Eric}}
[[Category:1897 births]]
[[Category:1992 deaths]]
[[Category:People educated at Dulwich College]]
[[Category:British Indian Army generals]]
[[Category:Lieutenants of the Royal Victorian Order]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Military Cross]]
[[Category:Companions of the Order of the Bath]]
[[Category:Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire]]
[[Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Indian Army personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:Indian Army generals of World War II]]
[[Category:Graduates of the Staff College, Quetta]]
[[Category:Military personnel from London]]

Eric Goddard - Revision history

Bot at 02:43, 17 June 2022